Skip to main content

Spring Forward

In this episode - Spring Forward . . .

Going through the Farmers Almanac, I was curious about Daylight Savings Time. Wondering why do we “Spring Forward?

Tomorrow, the second Sunday, March 14, 2021, at 2 a.m., is when Daylight Saving Time (DST) begins in most areas of the United States.

Be sure to set your clocks one hour ahead before bedtime on Saturday night!

I can hear the naysayers now, “So we lose one hour of sleep Saturday night, huh - What’s the Benefit of DST?

The idea behind moving the clocks twice a year is to take better advantage of the sun’s natural electricity (or light).

Not to worry, your solar panels will do this automatically.

 Face it, most folks get out of bed after the sun has risen and go to bed after it has set. But what if the sun rose and set later?

When we spring forward, we’re not really “saving” time; we’re just giving up a little sun in the morning and adding it to the evening.

So will we better utilize the sun’s illumination during this new-found sunlight? Later sunsets cause people to get outside and do more in the evenings.

Ok, but if it’s darker in the morning, doesn’t that mean more electricity will be needed to prepare for school and work?

Since Daylight Saving Time was introduced, lawmakers have occasionally seen fit to fiddle with it. This happened in the 70s, during the oil crisis.

In 2007, Daylight Saving Time got longer, beginning in March and ending in November, instead of April and October, respectively. But it looks like we won’t be doing away with it any time soon.

Which States Don’t Observe DST?

According to U.S. law, states can choose whether or not to observe DST. At present, Arizona (except for the Navajo Nation) and Hawaii, plus a few other U.S. territories, are the only places in the U.S. that do not observe DST and stay on standard time all year long.

Indiana did not vote to observe DST until April 2006. Before that, some counties in the state observed it while others didn’t, which caused a lot of confusion, particularly since Indiana is split into two time zones already!

What about Other Countries?

At least 40 countries worldwide observe Daylight Saving Time, including most of Canada, though most of Saskatchewan and parts of northeastern British Columbia don’t participate.

For obvious reasons, most countries near the equator don’t deviate from standard time.

I’ve heard ’Benjamin Franklin to blame for all this?

Well, yes and no; Ben Franklin is often credited for inventing the idea of Daylight Saving Time due to his partially tongue-in-cheek letter to the editor written in 1784.

However, Franklin seemed to understand rather than changing the clocks, he simply advised us to change our schedules to better align with nature. That seems sensible.

Obviously, changing the number on a clock doesn’t actually add any time to our days.

However, after most of us have gotten off work, adding an hour of daylight to the end of the day can feel like a gift after a long winter of dark evenings.

As the warmer spring weather arrives, nothing could be nicer than having more time in the evening to enjoy it.

Anyway, so tomorrow, we “spring forward,” like to or not.

Won’t you be my neighbor? Welcome spring. If you enjoy our weekly visits, please share them with a friend.

This is Patrick Ball; thanks so much for listening. See you in the next episode.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most Popular of All Time

The Gopher Problem and the High Powered Solution

Vacationing in Maine this week, just a short drive down the coast from Freeport, it is hard not to think about the outsized impact one frustrated outdoorsman had on the gear we all use today. Bad equipment can ruin a perfectly good day on the water or the trail, but it takes a special kind of vision to turn cold feet into a century-old empire. This is the story of the company we now know as L.L.Bean, but more importantly, it is a masterclass in integrity, learning from failure, and standing behind your work. In 1912, Leon Leonwood Bean faced a persistent problem: returning from expeditions in the Maine woods with cold, wet feet. Instead of complaining, he got creative. He had a local shoemaker stitch waterproof rubber soles onto the flexible leather uppers of a hunting boot. He called it the Maine Hunting Shoe and mailed a flyer promising perfect satisfaction. Then reality arrived. Ninety of his first 100 pairs failed when the rubber separated from the leather. Not an effective product...
Post a Comment
Read more

On Becoming Real

Some things get better with wear: old shoes, old friendships, and old books. Especially old books. A new volume arrives with crisp corners and a spine that hasn’t yet learned to bend. An old one has been somewhere. It has traveled through time in the hands of people who may no longer be around to tell us what they found inside. The copy of The Velveteen Rabbit (first published in 1922) on my desk is one of those books. My friend Don Hanley gave it to me. This late-1950s Doubleday edition features William Nicholson’s original illustrations and cream paper boards softened by age. Worn corners, a split spine, and colored tabs mark passages worth revisiting. Don didn’t hand me a keepsake. He gave me homework. When we talked about the book recently, he pointed me straight to the nursery conversation between a young rabbit and an old Skin Horse. The rabbit had noticed the mechanical toys around him—the ones with internal gears, bright paint, and stick-out handles that seem terribly impressiv...
Post a Comment
Read more

Engineering Beef Stew

On July 2nd—Day Two of what I call The Great Un-Working —I sat down with my morning notebook to map out this new chapter of my life. One goal made the list in bold ink: Learn to Cook. At seventy, I was adding a skill most people master before they’re old enough to drive. Before you judge me, understand our household ecosystem. Lori is a phenomenal cook. For decades, she’s made meals so effortless and delicious that restaurants seem unsatisfying . My contribution to the culinary arts during my bachelor years–tuna mixed into Kraft Mac & Cheese. Let’s just say I wasn’t threatening her spot on the Food Network. But retirement changed the equation. I’m officially off the clock while Lori is still working. And I had a lovely thought: Wouldn’t it be wonderful if she came home after a long day to find dinner waiting? She loved the idea. Then came the question that haunted me for weeks: “What do you want to make?” I had no idea. Apparently, the first step in learning to cook is deciding wh...
Post a Comment
Read more

When the Universe Calls in Sick

Take Thoreau’s Advice . . .  Four weeks ago, we stood on the shore of Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts, trying to channel Henry David Thoreau. Before leaving, I bought a pocket-sized copy of his essay, Walking . It’s slim because nineteenth-century transcendentalists didn’t have notifications interrupting their urge to wander. Thoreau’s counsel is disarmingly simple: step away from modern life's machinery and let the landscape recalibrate your perspective. Back home in Vista, I took that philosophy straight into the backyard. Thursday morning, ink-black, pristine skies arrived. I aimed my refractor at Jupiter, whose light has bathed Earth since mastodons roamed the plains. It felt cosmic. Profound . I left the telescope mounted overnight, convinced the heavens were on retainer for an encore at daybreak. Naturally, the universe called in sick. By sunrise, a wall of coastal fog had rolled in off the Pacific, sealing the valleys beneath a damp, gray Tupperware lid. After about th...
Post a Comment
Read more